Perspective

It's often said that individual study and individuals seeking God, lead to multiple perspectives and it creates chaos within the church. For instance, if a hundred people took one year to truly seek the Lord with all their heart, mind and soul, they, according to most, would say they would have a hundred different perspectives. It is true that each of us grow up in different homes, situations, experience different successes and tragedies but if we all have one Spirit, one Christ and one God we should all be hearing the same thing. For those hundred people, no matter their background, they should all come out of the experiment hearing and understanding the same thing. 

The problem lies in the perspective of those not relying fully on God for their sustenance. If we feed upon the Lord daily, "I am the bread of life," we all should end up at the same understanding  without the need of human interference. 

John 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Issues arise however and doubt catches strength when we take our eyes off of God and what he promises. Instead we dwell upon circumstances and visual cues to guide us instead of the Spirit. We are the Israelites waiting for Moses to come back from the mountain. We panic easily and get impatient waiting on God to say something or to move in us. We may start out excited and raring to go but as soon as our eyes wander from truth to situation, we start building a golden calf to worship, which could represent anything from the Bible to a pastor. If anything is placed ahead of God as the source, including the Bible, it is an idol. 

Our perspectives are based on situational thinking. If we are in financial trouble, do we think God doesn't know. Do we think that God will not provide? Is any situation too big for Him to handle, I think not. Our perspective, our narrow way of looking at things keeps us from accepting the truth. First, God will provide peace beyond understanding so that your situation isn't overwhelming you. With trust in Him comes peace. Second, once the peace is established in your heart, He will then bless you with provision. God will never provide provision to those with no trust. He doesn't want to feed the flesh, instead He rewards those that are faithful and trusting in Him. 

I have a wife that is much shorter than I. When we are in the car or out walking, we often point something out from our line of sight, our perspective. She can see the moon at night through the window of the car when it is high in the sky, where I have to lean way down to see it. Last night walking, I saw a vehicle parked and I made a comment about the dual sunroofs on it, yet she couldn't see them. Do we then, if we see different things from the angle of our eyes, doubt the others vision and say if I can't see it, it doesn't exist or argue about it. No, we take each others word for it and often we describe what we have seen to each other so we can share each others experience. Do we doubt them? No! So why do we doubt God? 

From His perspective the absolute truth comes forth from Him every moment of existence. Yet because we can't see what He sees, we doubt His perspective and we instead believe in our situation. It is imperative that we line up our way of thinking with His. It is of utmost importance that we seek the one who can change our line of sight. We may not experience the same circumstances as God, but just like my wife and I, God will paint a picture of His truth in our hearts so vivid and real that we would believe we were there with Him. 

When the waters are muddied and the vision is dull at best, we must rely fully on Him who can guide us through the darkness. Try and blind fold someone and give them instructions on how to move from one place to the other. They want to rely on putting their hands out in front of them, poking their foot out to make sure they don't collide with anything. You tell them to move left and they stand still then wave their arms out in that direction making sure it's clear before taking a step. They are still relying on themselves more than the are relying on you. If they would listen to your precise direction only and never make a movement without being told, then and only then do they fully trust you.

Do we not grab a snippet of God's word and then flail our arms out trying to figure out where to go. If He says go left we take off in that direction, crawling if need be. When we ram our heads into a wall, don't we then say, help. We tend to do that with all things as we do not trust.

Fully trusting in God would like this. God, I'm blind and cannot see like you see. Show me the way. Turn left my Son and you turn your body left but don't move. Where to now Lord? Take seven steps. You do as He says. Now turn right. Same thing. Now where Lord? We cannot take a step without knowing where to go and we cannot rush in that direction without further leading. 

If we see someone else being blessed by God with healing or words of knowledge, do we then imitate them so we can have that as well or do we go to the source and ask and if He says no at the time, like children, do we go off to try and circumvent God. Often times we do. Again, we don't see fully so why would we run into the dark trying to navigate by ourselves. Pride and stubbornness gets us every time and we'll fall off a cliff knowing it is the right thing to do every time. If we see darkly, then why do we run. If our vision isn't true, then why do we ignore direction.

This reminds me of a mirror maze. If you've never been in one, they are very disorienting. It is a building filled with identical mirrors, floor to ceiling at 45 degree angles so the mirror you see ahead reflects onto another and another and so on. You can literally see you all around you. The only way to know which way to turn is to practically run into a mirror. They give you gloves so you don't smudge the glass but every once in a while, you'll see a forehead smudge on the glass and know instantly what happened. My son and I got real good at one and learned the pattern from start to finish. we ran through from beginning to end to time ourselves. We did good but came pretty close to smacking into one a time or two. 

All that to say, perspective can be manipulated into making you think right is left and left is right. If the worker of the mirror maze walked us through, we would have had no problems what so ever. Instead, we spent an hour or more trying to memorize the pattern. Many bumps, wrong turns and dead ends kept us from the end. Of course in a fun environment like that, not knowing is fun. However, when it comes to life, not knowing what to do or where to go next could lead you into tragedy. 

Being guided by the one who has all the maps, all the knowledge, all the clear vision is paramount. We cannot afford to run when we cannot see the danger ahead. We cannot afford to turn into a dead end. As I've said before, the enemy waits for us to make the wrong turn constantly. He thrives on us following our own perspectives instead of God's. If there were deadly traps in that mirror maze, do you think I would ask for guidance. Of course, yet we walk through life oblivious to the dangers we face because they are internal and not seen. If I heard that there were deadly things in that maze and I doubted it and entered anyway, following what I could see, then I'm a fool. We cannot always see what is coming.

So, try the blindfold trick on some friends the next time you get together. Make them do complicated tasks with everyone else trying to distract them. If they are humble enough to listen to your voice and do what you say, then victory. Why then can we not turn off all the voices trying to get our attention and focus on Him so He can lead us to victory.

To God be the Glory!